Chapter 484 — The Twenty Heavens of the Buddhist Gate

Xing An carried the box on his back as always, still wearing the guise of a youth in white, as youthful and sunlit as the Xing An Shen Mu had once met in the fruit grove of the Heavenly Sage Academy. And yet the Xing An of today and the Xing An of then bore not the slightest resemblance to each other—they might have been two different men. Shen Mu's heart gave a lurch. If there was anyone left in this world he feared, it was the Imperial Preceptor Jingping and Xing An, and no one else.

The Imperial Preceptor Jingping was a sage, a man who acted by principles of his own; whoever stood in his path he removed. So long as you did not block his way, he would even become your good friend—but let even a good friend block his way, and he would turn on him without a flicker of recognition.

Xing An was a different breed altogether. He cared only for collecting. Collecting the fleshly bodies of the powerful—those who had reached the divine realm in one aspect or another!

His peculiar passion was to cut from you whatever he desired, yet not kill you; he would let you loose to graze, hoping for a second harvest.

And the man was strong beyond all reason.

The Heavenly Sage Academy of that time had not yet been the Heavenly Sage Academy, but it had gathered the mightiest experts under heaven—nearly half the strong of Jingping Kingdom assembled there, along with a dozen or more flood dragons of the Spirit Bridge realm—and he had beaten them all to a rout.

In the end they had only won by relying on the tonics Shen Mu had refined. Even so, Fan Xuanshu, the former Hierarch of the Dark Demon Cult, had died in battle, and his death had made Granny Zhu what she was.

After that fight, the gravely wounded lay abed for more than ten days. Xing An's fighting strength was like nothing Shen Mu had ever seen. And the man was monstrously gifted besides, his comprehension of every divine art and Daoist method reaching extraordinary heights. His Art of Creation had been passed down to him by Ban Gongcuo, yet even Shen Mu had never attained the height he had!

An existence like that was too terrifying.

Shen Mu turned to look back at the Golden Peak.

Buddhist light blazed from it into the heavens, and on the surrounding peaks a host of demon monks sat or stood or lay in every posture imaginable—some standing on one leg, some with wings spread, a thousand shapes and ten thousand attitudes—all of them urging on the Buddhist dharma, joining the Little Tathagata and the other masters atop the Golden Peak to deliver and convert Kui the Shaman God.

Above the Golden Peak the Buddhist light congealed into substance, like a golden tide gathering into a radiant lotus throne, and upon that throne the twenty heavens emerged, with Buddhas great and small faintly appearing and gods encircling them—majestic and profound indeed, the Buddhist dharma vast, the commotion fearsome, the sound of Buddhist chanting rolling on without cease! "Buddhist dharma so splendid, so magnificent—and before Xing An it would not withstand a single blow," Shen Mu thought. The masters of Little Thunderclap Temple were all occupied now with suppressing and converting Kui the Shaman God; they likely had no attention to spare for Xing An, and even if they could free their hands, they would be no match for him.

"Little Thunderclap Temple does have a few great demons of Hierarch rank, but faced with a fearsome existence like Xing An, the most they could do is delay him a little.

And judging by the Little Tathagata's temperament, he may not necessarily help me. " Shen Mu steadied himself and thought: "The only one I can rely on now is myself. Poison, the Myriad Gods' Natural Art—will they be enough to deal with him. .

. " He truly had no confidence at all. Xu Shenghua and the Xuanliao Demon Ape had noticed something was happening and hurried over on the wing. "Who is that carrying the box?

" Xu Shenghua's heart went cold.

He said in a low voice: "How savage! Is he a god?

" Shen Mu's face was grave: "Harder to deal with than a god. Every part of his fleshly body is at the divine realm—his blood, his primordial spirit, his vital essence. And I cannot even find where his origin lies.

. .

" Xu Shenghua was startled: "A true god?

" "No, but close enough," Shen Mu said through clenched teeth.

Xing An came up the mountain unhurried, the box on his back, Ban Gongcuo trailing behind.

Ban Gongcuo hastily sealed the blood vessels in his legs and flew through the mountain forest on his hands, racing to keep up with Xing An.

As for those two deer legs, he had not gone back to retrieve them. "Brother Xing An, now you know I wasn't lying to you, don't you? " Ban Gongcuo laughed: "I sensed it all the way here.

These bald donkeys must have snatched my master's primordial spirit.

Look at that Buddhist light—these lawless fellows are surely preparing to refine my master.

" Xing An shook his head: "They do not mean to refine him, but to convert him. The Little Tathagata of Little Thunderclap Temple is a divine-arts practitioner of no small cultivation, a figure as renowned as Daoist Lingjing.

When I hunted Lingjing for the divine blood in his body, Lingjing told me the Little Tathagata had already cultivated vital essence like that of a god.

I thought the Little Tathagata well worth collecting too, only my body had already begun to show hidden troubles at the time, so I did not move against him.

" Ban Gongcuo propped himself on his hands and followed behind him. Xing An's steps were unhurried, yet his speed was great, and Ban Gongcuo was run ragged trying to keep up. Ban Gongcuo put on a fawning smile: "This time you have my master's primordial spirit, and you have killed the Great Divine Physician Shen to settle your grudge.

Isn't it time you honored your promise? " Xing An said mildly: "Rest easy. What I promised you, I will give you. " His gaze was strange as he thought: "Once he has his two legs reattached, I will cut them off again. That way it will not count as breaking my word. " Suddenly the Buddhist light above the Golden Peak blazed forth.

The lotus formed of that light seemed to be heaved up by some immense force, and the Buddhist light beneath the lotus throne spilled out in all directions like a tide, giving off the roar of waves striking coastal cliffs, deafening to the ear! "Bald donkeys!

A strong one has come up the mountain—I've no more time to dawdle with you! " Beneath the lotus throne, Kui the Shaman God's voice shook heaven and earth.

Rolling demonic qi surged upward in a dark pall, scattering the Buddhist light, and the lotus that shrouded the Golden Peak was shaken so that it swayed unsteadily.

Above the lotus, the twenty heavens swayed as well, and the phantom shapes of the Buddhas and gods within them flickered in and out, ready to disperse at any moment. "Hold your ground!

" The Little Tathagata's voice came. Beneath the lotus, one after another of Little Thunderclap Temple's high monks of the demon race chanted the Buddhist sound aloud, louder than before, Buddhist light pouring from their bodies in ever greater density. The Buddhist light gathered behind them into halos, and from those halos it flowed toward the golden lotus in the sky—each stream of light like a root of the lotus, drifting in from the Golden Peak and the other mountains.

Kui the Shaman God roared in fury, and from his mouth came an obscure and profound demonic sound, a sound exceedingly awkward to the tongue yet bearing a strange rhythm all the same.

Shen Mu was slightly taken aback as he listened: "This is not the demon tongue I learned. The syllables are rather like those of the Youdu language! Can it be that Kui the Shaman God truly comes from Youdu? " He knew little of the Youdu language—only a single phrase, taught to him by the Demon King Dutian.

Whether what came from Kui the Shaman God's mouth was truly the Youdu tongue, he could not say.